Posts by rob_m

Operation Ore was based on flawed evidence from the start

Very upsetting

We trust these people, and I feel they have betrayed my trust.

They got it wrong in so many ways, and even more worryingly, it appears there was a complete and total absence of checks and balances in the system.

I wonder what the overall compensation required will amount to, due to these systemic problems. This is public money, that could, and should, be put to better use.

When you consider the penalties for tax fraud, which is essentially depriving the state from funds, I can see how a different approach here has resulted in a similar position; I would argue the people responsible should be jailed, under a similar regime.

Judge hits police with massive bill over false Operation Ore charges

Damages and costs

I havent seen the file, but I wonder what the costs comprise of? It sounds like he had a business that failed. This alone, I would have thought, would be a reasonable amount of money. Certainly more than 20k. Maybe this was incorporated into the costs, I dont know.

But my feel is that this was an absolutely disgraceful approach taken by the authorities, both in initiation, and subsequent bloody-mindedness.

There should, without question, be fallout on the authorities side. Prison sentences should be brought against these people IF it can be proven that their actions were malicious. I can certainly understand people making mistakes. We're human, and it happens. But if it was malicious, then I'd have no hesitation in sending these people to jail.

Australia, give up your fixed broadband!

Sarcasm too subtle?

In any case, if you DO take the article at face value, I just think Australian plans (whether fixed or mobile), are way too expensive. I lived in London for 6 years, and returning to Sydney was a shock.

I just want to see unlimited plans, with no fine print. I'm happy to pay a reasonable amount, but it seems like there are so many conditions and fine print, along with ridiculously convoluted plans.

My solution, is just to get something capped, at a low level, and wait for these providers to offer something even remotely like we used to get in the UK. Until then, sorry, but its not value that they're offering, in my opinion.

The Cisco Borg in your TV

who needs telcos for anything beyond a pipe?

@ Pen-y-gors - if the water company could figure out a way to do QOS, you can bet your bottom dollar they would. They have quite figured out how to make a switch that'll operate under those conditions though.

I do understand the point, though, and I agree to an extent. All I want from my ISP is bandwidth. Lots and lots of bandwidth. Why? Because I currently use crappy FTA TV, and this week the wind is playing up, and my set top box has lost about half its channels. And what I CAN see looks like crap. Far better to have something delivered over the wire, even if I have to pay for it, no problem.

So I want to be able to look at YouTube, etc. I dont care about any other "offering", I just want the bandwidth. Anything I want, I'm more than capable of getting myself, without needing to see anything from telco's who just repackage existing crap and make you pay double or triple for the privilege.

What it takes to get your desktop back up and running

Why the agro

I use citrix extensively. Licenses can be expensive, sure. But in the context of recovery, the solution is very simple. Our clients use wyse terminals. Chuck the broken one in the bin, plug in a new one, and its running in under 1 minute.

The beauty of the citrix platform is its a many to one relationship, ie, you have many connections using a server, that only needs to be patched once, yet many clients benefit. Rotate the servers through availability cycles, and clients will never even know a server has been down for maintenance.

When you look at the total cost of ownership, buying equipment is a very small fraction of the costs - maintenance frequently costs far more. If you can setup your design / architecture in such a way as to minimise maintenance, I reckon it pays for itself very quickly in normal operational terms; the benefits to recovery are a bonus on top of this.

IBM wants to relieve Aussie traffic pain

IBM has solved the problems in the UK, have they??

Well, considering the average speed through London has dropped to a whopping 9mph, and this is considered to be a problem "solved", I would hate to see a problem that remains unsolved. Maybe we all get in our cars and drive everywhere in reverse...